CAN’T GET YOUR HANDS ON A NINTENDO Wii? HAVE YOU TRIED CHURCH?
Church by the Glades, in Coral Springs, FL, is giving away a Nintendo Wii at each of its nine Christmas services taking place on December 20-24 as part of its “Wii Wish You a Merry Christmas” campaign.
The nine services will take place on Thursday, December 20 at 7:00 p.m., Saturday, December 22 at 5:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., Sunday, December 23 at 9:00 a.m., 10:30 a.m., and 12:00 p.m., and Monday, December 24 at 4 p.m., 5:30 p.m., and 7:00 p.m.
“It seems that the one thing that everyone wants and no one can get this Christmas is the Nintendo Wii,” said David Hughes, teaching Pastor at Church by the Glades.
In order to win the Wii you will have to fill-out a registration card. The winner will be selected during the service and then presented the Wii before its conclusion.
Some may ask why a church would do something like this. According to Hughes there are two reasons. First, he doesn’t believe that church should be boring. He thinks this will be a way of creating some energy during the services.
“Second, there is no doubt that a lot of people will come hoping to win a Wii, but we believe that many will leave with the hope of eternity that comes from having a relationship with Jesus Christ,” said Hughes.
History shows that Church by the Glades is in the habit of using things that are creating a buzz to draw people to the church. During one recent series of teachings called “i: Living in a Self-Absorbed World,” they gave away a free iPhone and iTunes gift cards to first time guests to promote the series. More recently, they gave away four tickets to the sold-out Hannah Montana concert at the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Wii Wish You a Merry Christmas
Posted by revolution at 6:33 AM
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23 comments:
thanks again for the material. I'm sure that CBG is seeing a tremendous amount of new faces with all that they are doing.
Was curious to know... have they seen a departing of some of the older members in the congregation?
wow... this is wrong on so many levels... guess they didn't read the scriptures on Jesus turning over the money changers' tables...
Michelle,
Glad that you see that too. Kind of takes the true meaning out of Christmas. Not only is it kinda' like gambling, but there is also a spirit of covetousness involved.
Lew,
Was doing some digging and for whatever reason the sun-sentinel article is no longer on the internet. You might want to check your links. Also found it funny how people picked you apart as being super-critical. Just so you know... I had your back.
CBG still has a traditional worship service every Sunday morning at 8 am, where the pastor wears a suit and they sing choral anthems with a choir. That is, most likely, where you would find the older members of the congregation.
I didn't feel that anyone picked me apart as being critical. In fact, I've received nothing but positive feedback from the churches I've visited.
i think im gonna go to cbg soon, i would love to get a wii and sell it on craigslist for lots of money!!
jk
where did they get all of those wii's? is there like an insider that goes to church there.
I like that the church is trying new methods to get people to go there. But somehow it seems really gimmicky to me.
For all of you comsumeristic nazis out there, you say "oh it's so wrong for these guys to be giving away a Wii in the church."
THEY ARE GIVING IT AWAY!
Guaranteed that before you read this post you knew nothing about the fact that the church was even giving it away. You may have heard about it after all the hype got out, but giving is a tool of the church and should be done on a regular basis. Just because it's not money, but a Wii, doesn't make it wrong for the church to give to it's people.
If you all had the money and your kid wanted the game system you would mostly likely buy it for them. So lets not jump up on your high horse and tell these people that what they are doing is wrong.
And just for information, Jesus went into the temple and turned over the tables of merchants that were
SELLING things in the house of the Lord.
CHARITY IS ALWAYS WELCOME IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD!!!!!!!!
i disagree... using stuff to lure people into church is the church acting like the world... we are not supposed to be like the world... if all you want to do is have a giant church that attracts lots of people, lure them in with a big giveaway... church isn't supposed to be "cool" it's supposed to be church... i happen to think church is cool because it's where i hear the unadulterated word of God, not where i win stuff in a raffle... and finally, charity in the house of God is not giving away a bunch of game systems, it's feeding the hungry and clothing the naked and preaching the Gospel so people might be saved... save the game system giveaway for the secular organizations, there are plenty of them to be found...
Hey Lew!
Thanks for picking up the story. As one of the pastors @ CBG, we are kind of use to the some of the comments listed above. Yes, our methods are different. We know not everyone is going to agree with them. We are OK with that. What we hope everyone remembers is that we are all on the same team. We are all trying to fulfill the Great Commission the way God has called us to. This just happens to be the way God has called us to do it.
As for Jesus not being happy with what we are doing, it was He who told His listeners to use "worldly wealth to gain friends" in an effort to win them for Christ (Luke 16:9).
In the end, I think that we should be more about using our words to encourage and edify than to teardown...it's biblical. In addition, those words are being spoken about the Bride of Christ—His Church. I don’t know about you, but when people talk about my bride negatively it doesn’t make me happy…
As for people leaving the church, that really isn’t happening (at least that I am aware of). I believe that our people understand the heart of our Pastor and the purpose behind what we are doing. It is not to build another mega-church. It is reach to reach the lost in Broward county.
How did we get a hold of the all the Wii’s??? Well, we don’t have all of them yet. After many phone calls and showing up to numerous places that sell them after UPS has been there, we were able to secure 6 of the 9. I hope to put some of that video up on my blog soon (www.freduhl.com). We are confident that we get the last 3 soon. We have a lot of people on the prowl!
If you are in the area and don’t have a home church or don’t do church at all, you should checked out CBG. As you can see, we do some “different” things to engage people. Also, our worship and pastor’s teaching is extremely creative and edgy. It won’t look or feel like any church you have been to in the past. If you come to one of our Christmas services, you might even win a Wii!!! Visit www.cbglades.com for info on service times and directions.
I dont' really care what CBG does to get people in their doors as I don't attend and don't ever plan to. I would be interested to know if they have done any research to determine if using these gimmicks has resulted in any new memebers or repeat visitors? Has there been any follow up to determine if these offers have in fact brought in new people who wouldn't have otherwise attended?
and I meant to say to michelle...I agree with a lot of what you've said. Sadly, in many churches it's all about reflecting the world and being cool. Somehow those churches have lost touch with the fact that when a lost person is seeking they've usually had it up to their eyeballs with the world and would like something a little different than what they are used to outside. Also seem to have lost touch with the fact that the word of God doesn't need to be covered in cool to have a massive impact.
"Also seem to have lost touch with the fact that the word of God doesn't need to be covered in cool to have a massive impact."
my point exactly... :]
I think that CBG would gladly admit to the use of "gimmicks" in order to draw people closer to Jesus; I'm sure they'd also admit that the use of gimmick can also have its drawbacks. The question would be: does the purpose and the response outweigh the gimmick?
7 years ago, my wife and I responded to a couple of gimmicks at Coral Baptist (the former name of Church by the Glades) - she began a relationship with Jesus and our relationship with each other was taken to a whole new level as we were married and baptized together after our honeymoon. They showed a clip from Braveheart - hands down, our favorite movie. And they also showed a clip from The Patriot - another favorite movie of ours. At the time, we didn't know that you could go to church and see a clip from Braveheart get used as a spiritual analogy. Nowadays, of course, we've seen how much further down the rabbit hole one can go if one chooses.
As usual, I fall somewhere in the middle. I can see the materialism/consumerism in the Wii "gimmick". But I also see that this "gimmick" doesn't cross any moral or scriptural boundaries that I know of in the pursuit of introducing people to Jesus.
The problem I see with this whole argument of bringing the world into church is how are you going to show people that have been in the world for so long that you are part of the world too. As much as you want to realize we are all part of the world, along with the church, and we must address worldly issues. We are not to draw ourselve out of the world but engage in it so that we can interact and win souls for christ.
Whether there "gimmick" is to give away a Wii to a person in the church or not their soul purpose of their church is to win peoples heart for the Lord. I have been there and engaged in their services and know that they are not all about the consurmerstic mindset of having all that you can have because God has blessed you.
If you want to blast them for this "gimmick" then find out what other places that they are giving before you lay judgement on one small " gimmick."
I don't think anyone is blasting them for using a gimmick. Actually, I think I said I don't care what they do. What I'd like to know is, does it actually work? Does it get people in the door who would not have come to their church otherwise and if so, do they come again?
As to the world, yeah we have to be able to relate. We can't sit in an ivory tower and look down on everyone outside the church. You know me, I'm not one for presenting myself as clean and holy. I do think that we (meaning the church) sometimes get lost and caught up in how to dress up God. I REALLY believe that neither God nor His word needs dressing up. I think there is an enormous amount of power in simplicity which is something the modern mega let's-see-how-much-stuff-we can-cram-into-a-serivce- churches have totally lost touch with, if they ever understood that concept in the first place.
rev'onite:
From my experiences with "mega-churches," I don't think any of them have gotten away from the simplistic message of the Gospel. If anything, they true to find creative ways of communicating it in the simplest ways possible. Most know that salvation begins with God, and realize that he doesn't need much help. What they have done is changed the way that info is presented.
Our church has found that people learn different ways. We use as many different ways to communicate the simplistic message of the Gospel to people.
As for the follow-up, honestly that is hard to do. We have different ways of trying to find out why people are coming to our church. However, it is difficult to gather that info mainly because we are relying on people to tell us. Unfortunately, they don't always to that. If baptisms and our current weekly attendance is an indicator (which I think it is), I would say it is working. Last year we baptized over 500 people. This past weekend, our attendance was up 36% over the same weekend last year (over 3100 people).
I can read the mind of someone who just read that, so let me respond now. No, we are not all about the numbers. They are, however, one way for us to see what AWESOME things God is doing through our ministry and people!
Sorry Fred,
Although we may be on the same team, I don't think that what CBC is doing is being a "team" player.
People have to choose where they are going to go to church for Christmas. Why buy my computer at CompUSA when Circuit City is giving away a free printer. It's a gimmick that encourages people to go to CBC rather than FBC. Next year FBC will give away a PSP4 and CBC will be giving away a MAC. That CCFL will give away a 300Z and then what will CBC and FBC do?
A real team would go out and preach the Gospel to the lost and show them the love of Christ and what churches they could attend in their area that would draw them closer to Jesus Christ.
By the way Todd Friel had a lot to say about what the Wii promo on TWOM. Hope you listen and are encouraged.
Too bad Todd "the tool" Friel didn't actually know what a Nintendo Wii even was....
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Todd "the tool" Friel has got to be one of the most vitriolic, hateful people I've ever heard.
Rev,
That didn't sound too loving. I'm sure he knew what a Wii was... he went to the CBG website. I think that part of it was showmanship.
I think I've said it before... I think it is a wonderful thing to be a "tool" for the Lord.
I thought that Todd Grandstaff was pretty hateful for making a message on "I Hate Christians". Funny how the emergents are so loving, except when they see something they don't like.
i can't seem to find a Wii anywhere. I may just shoot over there. For my kids sake of course.
Two quotes:
"What you win people with is what you win people to."
"The medium is the message."
This method of reaching people is so terribly naive that it's almost humorous. Seriously. Do they really think that this method is going to develop Christians who take up their cross and die for the sake of the Gospel? Remember: Christians make a difference in this world by being different from this world. They don't make a difference by being the same. C'mon!
Wow...I am getting hooked on this blog...very controversial posts!..(I am on cbg's side by the way...you can't be a fisher of men without bait)
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